Facebook Adds “Unlike Page” Button to Page Stories

Facebook has made it dramatically easier to Unlike Pages and Open Graph objects. Upon removing a Page’s update or the activity story generated from Liking a Page from your news feed or wall, you are given the option to Unlike that Page.

Sharing a Page currently produces a story on your wall showing a profile picture of that Page without heigh constraints, causing vertically oriented profile pictures to appear very large. Page shares also include the Page’s existing Like count.

Wielding the Unlike Button

When users click the “x” next to a Page update or activity story about them Liking the Page, users will now see the option to “Unlike Page” on the remove confirmation pop-up. Previously, users had to visit a Page and find the tiny Unlike button at the bottom of the left side bar, or edit their profile to remove a Page or Open Graph Like.

If a user clicks “Unlike Page” on a story about multiple Pages such as “[User Name] Likes San Francisco Giants and 3 other pages”, only the first Page named will be Unliked.

This new easier Unlike flow may significantly increase the rate at which active Pages lose Likes. Page admins will need to extra take care not to exhaust, bore, annoy, or offend their audience.

Tall, Prominent Page Share Stories with Like Counts

When you share a Page to your stream, aversion of its profile picture without height constraint is shown on your wall. This will aid in discovery of Pages with tall profile pictures by making their share stories more prominent. Facebook may fix this soon, though.

All Page Shares now include the Page’s category and existing Like count. For example, sharing baseball team the San Francisco Giants’ Page produces a story which states “Sports Team: 556,437 people like this.” The Like count will give users assurance when they are considering Liking popular Pages, but could dissuade them from Liking new or unpopular Pages.

Update: The Unlike button is also available on feed and activity stories published by Open Graph objects. Now users can Unlike an object from their feed or wall, preventing them from having to leave Facebook to visit and Unlike the URL.

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